[Young&Aspiring]

I'm new... to everything. Guitar, this forum, and songwriting. I'm fine with writing lyrics, it's the music i struggle with... how do you go about writing the actual music. Keep in mind i have minimal knowledge of theory (so any tips there are appreciated). thanks guys.

[Demon_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Young&Aspiring

I'm new... to everything. Guitar, this forum, and songwriting. I'm fine with writing lyrics, it's the music i struggle with... how do you go about writing the actual music. Keep in mind i have minimal knowledge of theory (so any tips there are appreciated). thanks guys.

First you have to know some music.

So, go learn some music, find some sounds that you really like.

Make some changes to those sounds, or rearrangement with other sounds you like. And thus the song writing process has begun.

Hell, I come up with riffs when Im practicing scales. Ill do something weird by accident, and then all of a sudden ive spent 30 minutes trailing off into improv land trying to get this riff to sound cool. I also come up with fun sounding interval combos when I practice scales.


So, practicing music you like, and studying technique should eventually lead you to writing music. Atleast, thats been my experience.

Also, one thing my composition instructor has been drilling into his class is that "always write, even if it doesnt sound good, just continuously write music, keep composing". You probably wont like most of what you write, but write anyways. The only way to learn HOW to write music to actually write music. As you write your own music you will discover sounds that you really like, and you'll be able to hone in on those sounds more and more.

Its all a big circle, really. Doing leads to knowing when it comes to writing music, atleast, thats what my Composition Instructor seems to insist, and its what Im discovering more and more as I write music.

[6strings21frets]

Originally Posted by Young&Aspiring

I'm new... to everything. Guitar, this forum, and songwriting. I'm fine with writing lyrics, it's the music i struggle with... how do you go about writing the actual music. Keep in mind i have minimal knowledge of theory (so any tips there are appreciated). thanks guys.

Read this.